Examining gaps in claims in existing health insurance schemes

Principal Researchers: Profs. Esther Duflo and Abhijit Banerjee (MIT)
Partner Organization: Grameen Koota, Karnataka; Seva Mandir, Rajasthan; BISWA, Orissa

This study aims to examine the behavior of insured clients in claiming benefits of health insurance. It would also help identify the conditions that need to be covered by the insurance product as well as the potential difficulties with marketing and delivering insurance products in rural India. CMF is conducting surveys to find out whether the members of the insured households were affected by the illnesses that they were insured against, and if so, what they did. In addition, data will be collected from hospitals to match the numbers of claims with the expected probability to be affected by such illnesses, in order to find out the extent of over-claiming or under-claiming. This survey will be conducted in several organizations (MFIs and NGOs) providing health insurance across the country. Surveys have already been conducted with Seva Mandir, Rajasthan, and Grameen Koota, Karnataka, and the data collected have been entered. Preliminary reports will be prepared by mid-2007.

CMF Research Associates: Aparna Krishnan and Lakshmi Krishnan

See some related CMF documents:
# Project description document [PDF, 101KB]